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Trump to visit Florida on Thursday to survey Irma damage

"We are there for you 100%", Mr Trump said before donning gloves and helping to hand out sandwiches to local residents.

Trump pledged to come back to Florida "numerous times". "This is a state that I know very well".

Mr Trump earlier met with federal and state leaders in Fort Myers, where he was brimming with enthusiasm for the state and federal response effort.

Homeland Security adviser Tom Bossert said the planning for the president's trip was done in concert with Florida Gov. Rick Scott's team. The number of people without has dropped to 9.5 million - just under half of Florida's population.

The White House did not specify which area of the state the President would tour during his stop, but sources told CNN he would travel to the Fort Myers area, on Florida's gulf coast. "I don't know what he's going to do". On the tarmac of the Fort Myers airport, he encouraged the state's governor, Republican Rick Scott, to challenge Florida's Democratic senator when his term expires. She added that Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long was visiting affected areas Tuesday.

Meanwhile many Floridians remain swamped and without electricity.

Nevertheless, millions of residents in Florida remained without power on Friday, a unsafe scenario amid high temperatures in the state. Inside a torn-apart mobile home community here, Trump distributed meals alongside his wife, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and Pence's wife, Karen. "We're going to be with you tomorrow and we're going to be with you until Florida rebuilds bigger and better than ever before".

It was Trump's third trip in less than three weeks to the South to survey storm damage.

His trip to Florida follows two earlier outings in which Trump reviewed Harvey recovery efforts in late August.

Jeremy Wilson is seen through an American flag as he fixes up the roof of a home belonging to a family member that was damaged from Hurricane Irma in Naples, Fla., Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017.